Every new government is bound to stumble from time to time in its first few months of power. Files are mishandled, unrealistic ideas presented and sometimes dumb comments are made. Politicians of all parties are, after all, only human and voters who support the new government’s policies are generally happy, while the other side of the debate remains skeptical at best and enraged at the worst.
As other pundits have pointed out recently, however, it is often the small things for which a government is judged and remembered. And on both federal and provincial levels voters have been getting an eyeful and an earful. Remember Stephen Harper shook his son’s hand before sending him to school in the morning. That trivial detail stuck to him like a bad smell until he left office. It made him look cold.
Now less than two months into his ambitious tenure as prime minister, Justin Trudeau has dealt himself a whopper. Long after his valiant attempts at world statesmanship on climate change and “hottie” status in the Philippines are likely to be forgotten, we are betting there is one small fact about this man that at least 50 per cent of the population will not forget. And it isn’t that the taxpayer is picking up his tab for childcare despite his claim that rich people like himself don’t need the help.
No, the thing that will be remembered is that his family employs not one, but two nannies to look after three small children. Such an arrangement may be quite normal for the hoity-toity, but we’ll bet that is a new concept for the hoi polloi. Will big time Lotto Max players now add two nannies to their must-buy lists? The man has shown that despite his charm and love for his family, he is not really one of us. Perhaps we have elected a member of a Canadian royal family after all and that may not bode well for Justin because there are few things the hard-working taxpayer resents more than paying for any politician’s sense of entitlement. Two nannies – that may well be on the mind of many middle-class parents the next time they change diapers.
For Alberta’s NDP, the matter that will likely dog them to the end of their time in office isn’t so simple, but similar to Trudeau’s mis-step noted above, it speaks more to character and attitude than policy. One would have to be a member of the NDP caucus to know what goes on behind closed doors, but the latest boondoggle over farm safety legislation makes you wonder what the government was thinking. It also draws attention to the rather obvious fact that much of the debacle unfolded when Premier Rachel Notley was in Paris for the climate change meetings. When she was away, after masterfully engaging big oil on her climate strategy, was there anyone else to steer her ship?
Love or hate NDP policies – and we note the number of the latter is formidable in much of the province – on the minimum wage, carbon pricing or royalty reviews, at least they have generally been presented in a straightforward, if certainly not collaborative, way to an audience peppered with believers. But the confusing farm safety bill, shoved onto our non-NDP supporting rural population without any meaningful consultation appears to be either the ultimate in self-righteous arrogance or a bad move by a nervous over-eager rookie team that has yet to learn to settle down and play. Some supporters may argue with this assessment, but for this government to achieve any success it has to have Albertans on side whether they live in Edmonton, Calgary or Okotoks. At the moment, that isn’t the case.
